Club Night Monday 18 June

Tutor’s Notes

It was a wet night on Monday so great to see that many of you braved the weather.

We continued looking at the dancers from our Dance Programme

We started with Joie de Vivre – a simple Jig with a 3 couple allemande. The key to making this dance look good is to maintain straight lines both in the Allemande and for the back to back.

The second dance of the night was Hooper’s Jig. A lively number requiring synchronised claps which were achieved well. Although this is a popular dance there were several people who were unfamiliar with it and it is slightly trickier than it appears on first glance. We will repeat this one next week.

Here is the youtube clip for watching as homework. Hooper’s Jig

Remember everyone is moving on the 2 bars before the rights and lefts. 1st man casts to 2nd place, 1st woman and 3rd man give left hand so the 3rd man can guide the 1st woman into 2nd place while he returns to his own place. At the same time the 2s move up.

For your education the word hooper is an archaic English term for a person who aided a cooper in the building of barrels by creating the hoop for the barrel.
The wooden parts that make up a barrel are called staves, while the rings that hold them together are called hoops.

The step practice for the night was Strathspey Setting. This is step close (behind in 3rd) step hop bringing the foot up behind the leg, where the stocking seam would be with the foot pointed to the floor.

We then looked at the Strathspey Pousette. This is at times referred to as the Diamond Pousette or the All Round Pousette, this is because it is diamond in shape and you dance the full way around the diamond so you return to where you started. (i.e. non progressive). This is different to the Pousette in jig or reel time which is square and progressive.

We danced the Compliment which has the Strathspey Pousette, and repeated Auld Year’s Nicht with a pousette in reel time.

We also repeated The Water of Leith a strathspey for 4 couples
And finished the evening with the always popular Shiftin’ Bobbins.

Next week we will start looking at the most difficult dance on our dance program Culla Bay. This has been on our dance programs before but it is definitely one for the more experienced in the club. Even they might want to do some preparation and look at the video.